With the new FAST-Act in place since December, there are ongoing discussions about the fact that funding levels don’t match the demand for bus operating and capital needs — especially the need to expand funding to replace dilapidating fleet and facilities by looking at the age and mileage on the assets. This is a significant problem across the board for MPTA transit service providers in both the rural and urban areas of the state.
The funds available under the Bus Capital and No-Lo Emission programs are significantly lower than the needs demonstrated through the grantee applications. The Bus Capital Competitive Program fell short of requests made by more than $1.4 billion.
“The disparity between the needs of our bus transit providers and the availability of resources cannot be ignored anymore. Realistically we know that rarely does the amount available meet the demand. However, the needs in our communities just demonstrated through the Bus Capital Competitive Program is more than 7 times greater than the available funds and this gap continues to widen rather than diminish,” said Dorothy Yeager, Executive Director of OATS, Inc. and MPTA Vice President.
OATS, Inc. is a private, nonprofit transportation provider serving 87 counties in Missouri.
MPTA will continue to work with bus transit system providers and local partners like MoDOT to ensure their systems are adequately funded to provide safe and reliable public transit in Missouri.